Baek Won-in (third from left), the chief executive of ImageNEXT, inspects his company’s booth at 2015 International CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday. (Kim Young-won/The Korea Herald)LAS VEGAS ― A handful of small but tech-savvy Korean companies are ramping up efforts to gain a footing in the global technology industry during the 2015 International CES here.Among those start-ups debuting at the world’s largest consumer electronics show is ImageNEXT, the developer of the OmniPAD, consisting of 360 degr

LAS VEGAS ― Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest electronics firm, said that its entire range of products would be connected through the Internet of Things technology by 2020. “Samsung will have all TVs connected through the IoT by 2017, and all other products by 2020,” said Yoon Boo-keun, head of the company’s consumer electronics business unit, in his opening keynote speech for the International CES on Tuesday. “Samsung will unlock infinite possibilities of the IoT by developing technology

LAS VEGAS ― LG Display, the world’s largest display-maker by sales, said Tuesday that it was committed to developing the organic light-emitting diode business this year despite challenges posed by rival products with cost efficiency and high-definition displays.“If the year 2014 was a time when we prepared the ground for the growth of the OLED market, this year will be a time when the OLED TV business will take off,” said Han Sang-beom, the chief executive of LG Group’s display business unit, at

LAS VEGAS ― South Korean electronics powerhouse LG Electronics vowed to exert its utmost efforts to make consumers’ lives easier and smarter with its open technologies.“The Internet of Things is what connects everything we value with the innovations that are centered around our lives,” said Skott Ahn, LG Electronics chief technology officer, at a news conference at the 2015 International CES on Tuesday. “At LG, we’re taking an open approach to maximize the value offered to our customers through

The International CES, the world’s largest consumer electronics festival, offers home appliance makers the chance to introduce their trendsetting products.For other tech companies, the trade show is a venue to show off their technological prowess and seek global partnerships.Lee Sang-chul, chief of LG Uplus, the third-largest mobile carrier in Korea, is one of the leading businesses that does not make consumer electronics businesses that are flocking to Las Vegas for 2015 International CES to op

Digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Alipay are gradually replacing cash and credit cards with more and more people browsing and purchasing goods by tapping and swiping on their smartphones.Kakao Pay, codeveloped by Internet giant Daum Kakao and ICT solutions developer LG CNS, is one of the services spearheading the mobile payment industry in South Korea.After launching its mobile payment service Kakao Pay in October, Daum Kakao was able to attract 2 million subscribers in less than three month

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker by sales volume, took the top spot on a customer satisfaction index in 2014, beating its archrival Apple, the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, a U.S.-based private research firm, said Wednesday.Samsung scored 81 in the ACSI’s annual report for consumer satisfaction, a 6.6 percent increase from 76 last year. Its competitor Apple saw its score slide by 2.5 points on-year to 79, yielding the top spot to the Seoul-based tech giant.  Shin

The world’s smartphone industry will likely achieve a quantum leap in 2015 with a slew of cutting-edge technologies adopted in handsets, including a curved 4K display, a 64-bit processor and faster telecommunications chips.Local manufacturers are expected to ride the wave, with Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone-maker by sales volume, expected to unveil its flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone at the Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest mobile trade show, which will be held in Ma

Ticket Monster, or TMON, South Korea's first deal-of-the-day website, seems to be struggling to find an investor to shape its managerial direction and put the company on a solid financial footing. On Friday, investment bank Goldman Sachs denied market reports that it was considering buying the social commerce firm. Local news outlet MoneyToday had reported on the day that the U.S. firm planned to purchase some or all stakes in Ticket Monster or create a strategic alliance with other Korean fir

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday indicted Uber Korea’s chief executive Travis Kalanick and the head of MK Korea ― a rental car business that is partnering with Uber ― on the grounds that Uber’s ride-hailing service is illegal. The prosecution’s decision to press charges against Uber Technologies is further fueling a controversy over the ride-sharing service in South Korea. The prosecution said in the indictment that the California-based firm and its local partner breac

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that it would further ramp up its efforts to ban Uber, saying the controversial taxi-hailing service was not part of the sharing economy. “Uber does not go hand in hand with the city’s envisioned sharing economy since it does not abide by laws that require transportation businesses to take safety measures for the public. It only seeks profits by connecting riders with nunauthorized drivers,” the city government said in a press statement.The city gove

Top management of Xiaomi, a rising star in the consumer electronics world, said the Chinese smartphone-maker could differentiate itself from its top two global competitors ― Samsung and Apple ― by seamlessly integrating its software and Internet content with hardware. “From the beginning, Xiaomi has considered the mobile phone to be a converged gadget of software, Internet services and hardware, not just as a simple device (for communication),” Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said in a meeting with South Kor

KT Corp., Korea’s largest telecommunications firm, said Thursday its chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu has been named as a member of a United Nations organization for promoting the worldwide deployment of high-speed wireless technology.His appointment to the Broadband Commission for Digital Development came after he became a board member of the GSMA, a global organization that represents global mobile operators, last week. “It is my honor to work for the ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission, which aims

Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace made ominous threats Tuesday against movie theaters showing Sony Pictures’ film “The Interview” that referred to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The group also released a trove of data files including thousands of emails from the inbox of Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. The data dump was what the hackers called the beginning of a “Christmas gift.” But GOP, as the group is known, included a message warning that people should stay away

KT, South Korea’s largest telecommunications service provider, said Tuesday that it had successfully demonstrated technology that combined different carriers to offer wider fifth-generation mobile network bandwidths for the first time in the world. The carrier aggregation connection technology works in the heterogeneous network, which connects a large base station with multiple small base stations. By utilizing carriers of adjacent or remote bands, mobile network operators can deal with large da

GS E&C, one of South Korea’s leading apartment builders, has become embroiled in a feud with the buyers of mega apartment complex units over the relatively small number of parking spaces at the complex in Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province. The construction business of GS Group is currently building an apartment complex fitted with some 4,000 units, called the Hangang Central Xi, near Gimpo New Town, west of Seoul. It began presale contracts of the apartments in May. “When the construction firm chang

Aiming to beef up its technological prowess in the world’s organic light emitting diode industry, LG Display, a leading Korean display manufacturer, has agreed to expand its alliance with Japanese display materials firm Idemitsu Kosan, according to the Korean display maker Friday. The expanded alliance includes closer cooperation in developing OLED technology and sharing related technology patents.  LG Display president Yeo Sang-deok (left) and Yoshihisa Matsumoto, executive vice president of Id

David Steel, the first foreign national who became an executive at Samsung Electronics in 2002, will come back to Seoul and join the global public relations team following his recent promotion as executive vice president, the tech giant said.In the 2014 executive reshuffle at the group level, Steel became the third foreign executive vice president, following Tim Baxter and Wang Tong, who were promoted to the same rank in 2012 and 2013 respectively.  David SteelSome market watchers expect Steel,

Announcing a list of the most viral tweets and memorable moments of the year, Twitter Korea said the Sewol ferry tragedy that took the lives of more than 300 people was at the top. “On the day the Sewol sank, the microblogging service in Korea was flooded with tweets and retweets praying for those on board the ferry to come home safely, and also checking for follow-ups,” Soh Young-sun, market director of Twitter Korea said on Thursday. A slew of Korean Twitter users also joined a yellow ribbon c

Even at first glance, it was easy to tell that LG Electronics’ AKA is not just a dumbed-down version of one of LG’s high-end models. With its glossy case and animated eyes, the AKA is aimed at younger consumers who want to stand out. To open the phone, you have to tap on the exposed part of the screen twice, after which a set of eyes appear. It feels a bit odd, and even creepy at first, but before long I become attached to the googly, playful eyes. The phone comes with four covors ― white, yello